Erik is a baseball fan who has been attending baseball games and snagging baseballs regularly since 2008.

6-27-09 PNC Park

Today was a Saturday, which meant an extra 30 minutes of batting practice, since the gates open at 4:30 rather than 5:00.

When I got in, I immediately went into foul territory to look for Easter Eggs. I scoured every row, but found nothing. I then wasted 14 minutes of batting practice by staying in the left field foul area. I was hoping Nyjer Morgan or another lefty would slice one down the line, but it didn’t happen. I watched about six balls land in the left field bleachers during this time. I then made my way back to my normal spot in left field.

After a short lull, I got 3 balls in maybe a minute. The first ball went off of a ballhawk’s glove. He must’ve lost it in the sun. Either way, I reached down and picked up the ball for ball #1 of the day. Notice the hole in it.Seconds later, a home run was hit at another ballhawk. He tried to snag it in his hat, but slightly missed it. The ball rattled around under the bleacher. He didn’t see it, but I did. I ran over and picked up ball #2 of the day.

Moments later, a home run was hit to my right. Myself, along with three other ballhawks closed in on it, and I was able to grab ball #3 off of the concrete barehanded in the knick of time.

I hit a dry patch. Near the end of batting practice, Stephen Jackson threw a ball to fellow ballhawk Nick. For whatever reason, Jeff Karstens turned and looked right at me and said, “There’s one over there,” and pointed in foul territory. STATISTICS:Game: 6 balls (5 hit, 1 thrown)Season: 216 balls (112 hit, 74 thrown, 30 device)Games: 43 games (5 of which didn’t have BP)Average: 5.02 balls per gameCareer: 382 ballsAttendance: 36,032

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